Portable golf course

ABSTRACT

A portable golf course having one or more tees, primary and secondary fairways and greens, all of which may be interconnected by rotatable detachable pins. Tees are divided into three sections. The center section is hinged to the outer two sections to permit them to be folded upright for carrying and storing. Primary fairways may consist of one or more elongated members hinged together with their ends connected to separate tees. Greens may be connected to a tee or to one end of a secondary fairway whose other end is connected to a tee. Secondary fairways may consist of one or more members connected together by pins. The pin-type connections used throughout the golf course make it possible to vary the number and configuration of tees, greens, primary and secondary fairways. These connections also permit the components to be folded on top of one another to reduce storage space and facilitate portability.

United States Patent [191 Smith 1 July 29, 1975 PORTABLE GOLF COURSE [21] Appl. No.: 479,108

[52] US. Cl 273/176 G; 273/176 H; 273/34 B [51] Int. Cl A63b 67/02 [58] Field of Search 273/176, 34 B, 87, 87.2, 273/87.4

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,612,291 12/1926 Jackson 273/34 B 1,818,749 8/1931 Pittler 273/176 G 2,539,046 1/1951 Wright 273/176 F 3,038,726 6/1962 Hesidence 273/176 F 3,727,917 4/1973 MacLean 273/176 l-I FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 358,362 10/1931 United Kingdom 273/176 F 18,634 7/1893 United Kingdom 273/176 H Primary Examiner-George J. Marlo Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto [57] ABSTRACT A portable golf course having one or more tees, primary and secondary fairways and greens, all of which may be interconnected by rotatable detachable pins. Tees are divided into three sections. The center section is hinged to the outer two sections to permit them to be folded upright for carrying and storing. Primary fairways may consist of one or more elongated members hinged together with their ends connected to separate tees. Greens may be connected to a tee or to one end of a secondary fairway whose other end is connected to a tee. Secondary fairways may consist of one or more members connected together by pins. The pin-type connections used throughout the golf course make it possible to vary the number and configuration of tees, greens, primary and secondary fairways. These connections also permit the components to be folded on top of one another to reduce storage space and facilitate portability.

17 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED JUL 2 9 I975 PORTABLE GOLF COURSE This invention relates to a portable golf course, and in particular to a portable golf course which may be as sembled and disassembled indoors or outdoors.

The popularity of golf has generated many attempts at providing a portable golf course. I-Ieretofore, portable golf courses have mainly consisted of a fixed configuration of a fairway terminating in one or two greens having one or more holes. Most such golf courses are not easily assembled and disassembled. Also the component parts of such portable courses are often bulky and require excessive amounts of storage space. The configuration of most prior golf courses permit the user little or no freedom to alter the arrangement of the components or to add additional components. Hence, the player cannot experience a variety of golfing situations.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new, portable, easily assembled and easily disassembled, compactly storeable golf course useable indoors and out of doors.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a portable golf course having one or more tees, greens and fairways arrangeable in a variety of configurations.

Another object of this invention is to provide a portable golf course having pitch adjustable greens.

Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will be set forth in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the description or can be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages are achieved by means of the instrumentalities and combinations described herein and as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

To achieve the foregoing objects and in accordance with its purpose, this invention provides a portable golf course comprising one or more tees. Tees may be interconnected by primary fairways. Connected to each tee may be one or more secondary fairways. A green having a hole for receiving a golf ball may be connected to a tee or to one end of a secondary fairway. The greens are connected to the tees or secondary fairways by a detachable rotatable connection, such as a steel pin, inserted through adjoining eyelets positioned on greens, secondary fairways and tees. Similar connecting means are used to connect primary fairways to tees. This allows the user to readily assemble or disassemble the golf course. It also allows the user to expand or contract the golf course in accordance with the area available for play. Two additional features of this invention are a retaining net and a green pitch adjustment means. A retaining net may be placed at one end of an expanded golf course in order to prevent golf balls from falling off the end. The invention also includes green pitch adjustment means for varying the pitch of the greens. This allows the golfer to create a variety of green conditions and thereby better simulate actual playing conditions.

Assmebly, use, disassembly and storage are facilitated by the particular construction of the greens, tees, primary fairways and secondary fairways. All of the foregoing may be constructed, for example out of three-eighth inch steel belted reinforced plywood covered with a grass simulating material such as indooroutdoor carpeting. The entire golf course may be supported by retractable legs. The tees are longitudinally divided into three sections. Such adjoining sections are connected together by means of removable pins or hinges. Such a connection permits the user to completely disassemble the tees or to fold the adjacent sections on top of one another. The primary fairways consist of one or more elongated members; the secondary fairways may also consist of one or more members. Like the tees, fairway sections are connected together by removable pins or hinges. Such a construction gives the user a sturdy, easily assembled, compactly stored well simulated portable golf course.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, a three tee golf course is depicted. However, as will become obvious from the description herein, the golf course may be reduced to a single tee and green or expanded to include any number of tees, greens, primary and secondary fairways.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an example of a preferred embodiment of the invention and. together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the golf course.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the golf course of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of tee 6 of the golf course in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a partial elevation of tee 6.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of tee 6 from which certain elements have been removed.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the tee 6 in its folded carrying position.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 :in the drawings, the golf course comprises three tees including a center tee 4 connected to terminal tees 2 and 6 by primary fairways 8 and 12. Radiating from center tee 4 are four secondary fairways 20, 22, 24 and 26. These secondary fairways are respectively connected to greens 21, 23, 25 and 27. Terminal tee 2 is connected to secondary fairways 16, 18 which in turn are respectively connected to greens 17, 19. Another green 32 is connected to tee 2 at a position longitudinally opposite to primary fairway 8. Terminal tee 6 is constructed in a similar manner having secondary fairways .28, 30 and greens 29, 31 and 33. A retaining net 34 is detachably affixed around the portion of tee 6 longitudinally opposite primary fairway 12. When balls are putted from tee 2 or tee 4 to terminal tee 6, the retaining net serves to prevent the balls from falling off the edge of tee 6. The netting material may be made of cloth, screening, or any other suitable material able to withstand the impact of the golf ball. The tees and fairways are supported by foldable legs, such as legs 66 and 65 shown in FIG. 4. Legs are used to raise the golf course above the floor (indoors) or the ground (outdoors) to provide an artificial depth for the holes. Alternatively, when used outdoors, earth may be removed from underneath the holes and legs are not needed.

A tee, such as tee 6 shown in FIG. 5, is divided into three adjoining sections 6a, 6b, 6c which are connected together at their respective joints by removable pins 80, 81 placed through adjoining accommodating eyelets. This connection allows the user to completely disassemble the tee or fold outer sections 6c and 6b upright at a angle to center section 60 as shown in FIG. 6. When so folded, a handle 61 may be attached between the folded outer sections 6b and 6c. This handle will serve to keep the outer sections in their folded position to facilitate carrying and storing. Fairways and greens may be entirely detached and placed on top of section 6a or may remain connected to their respective tee section and folded thereon as will be described hereafter.

All tees have an elongated center section such as section 6a of tee 6. Portions 84, 85, 86 and 87 extend beyond the rim of the tee and have eyelets for attaching other elements to the tee. A pin-eyelet connection is depicted in FIG. 5 where pin 41 is shown removed from eyelets 42, 43 of section 52 and from eyelets 44, 45 of extension 86. Extensions 84, 85 and 87 are similarly respectively connected to primary fairway 12, secondary fairway and green 33. Center tee 4 differs from the terminal tees 2, 6 inasmuch as tee 4 has four extensions for connection to four secondary fairways or greens. whereas tees 2 and 6 only have three such extensions.

Primary fairways join the tees together. The primary fairways may comprise one or more detachably rotatably interconnected elongated members. As shown in FIG. 1, primary fairway 12 is a single elongated member having one end connected to terminal tee 6 by a removable pin 62 and the other end connected to center tee area 4 by a removable pin 63. The pins are passed through eyelets (not shown) appropriately placed on the tee center sections and the ends of the fairways. Primary fairway 8 comprises two elongated members 94 and 95. These member may be detachably rotatably connected to each other at one end by a removable pin 92. A hinge-type connection may be used in lieu of pin 92. The other ends are respectively connected to termi nal tee 2 by a removable pin 90 and to center tee 4 by removable pin 91. These connections further enhance the storeability of the golf course. When not is use, the primary fairways may be folded on top of the center sections of the tees, or they may be completely detached and separately stored.

Secondary fairways may also comprise one or more elongated members. Secondary fairway 28 shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 has three such members. These members, 50, 51, and 52, are connected together by means of pins 54, 55 or hinges. One end of secondary fairway 28 is connected to green 29 by means of pin 53 and the other end to terminal tee 6 by means of pin 41. Secondary fairways 20, 22, 24 and 26 are single elongated members.

Secondary faiways may be added or removed to alter the particular configuration of the golf course. In the embodiment shown in the drawings, no secondary fairway is attached to the center sections of terminal tees 2, 6 that are opposite the primary fairways. Instead, greens 32, 33 are directly connected to their respective terminal tee.

Green 33 is representative of all greens of the golf course. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, it is connected to terminal tee 6 by means ofa pin 71 and is supported by an elevation adjustable leg assembly 67. This leg has a hollow threaded upper portion 72 and a lower portion consisting of a base 68 rigidly fixed to a threaded rod 69. Turning the base 68 in a clockwise direction will advance rod 69 into threaded upper portion 72 and vice versa. In this manner the pitch of the green may be raised or lowered. The entire leg assembly may be folded on its side to facilitate storage. The hole 35 is wide enough to receive a golf ball.

An added feature of this invention is that an additional hole may be placed in the center of any tee. This is shown in FIG. 4 where the terminal tee 6 has a hole 63. If desired, this hole may be covered by a plug 64 in order to provide a smooth tee surface.

Once the user has assembled the golf course, disassembly, portabilityand storage is simple. For the golf course shown in FIG. 1, pins and 91 are removed, and the legs are folded underneath the member they support. Primary fairway members 94 and 95 are folded together with their undersides contacting each other. Once folded, they in turn are rotated on top of the center section of the terminal tee 2. Green 32 is rotated toward the center section of terminal tee 2 and rests upon folded primary fairway 8. Green 17 and secondary fairway 16 are folded on top of one outer section of terminal tee 2. First section 16a is folded onto outer section 2h of terminal tee 2 so that the upper side of section 16a contacts outer section 2b. Next section 16b is folded onto section in such a manner that their undersides contact. Then section 160 is folded on top of section 16b so that their uppersides contact. Finally, green 17 is folded on top of section 16c in such a way that their undersides contact. Fairway l8 and green 19 are folded in a similar manner. Both outer sections 2b. 2c of tee 2 may then be rotated upright to form a 90 angle with the center section 2a. The entire assembly is held in this position by a handle connecting together the upright outer sections. The other tees. fairways and greens are similarly folded and held in the position shown in FIG. 6.

Before commencing play. the player arranges the tees, fairways, greens, retaining net, and adjust the pitch of the greens as he so desires. With the retaining net at one terminal tee area, play is begun at the opposite area. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the player would begin on tee 2 by playing his ball toward one of greens 17, 19 or 32. Play on one green is completed after the golf ball is sunk in the hole. After playing all the greens on tee 2, the player may move his golf ball to center tee area 4 or putt down primary fairway 8 to center tee area 4 and play greens 21, 23, 25 and 27, or continue putting onto primary fairway 12 to play greens 29, 33 and 31 from terminal tee 6. Since more force is required to putt the golf ball to tee 6 than is required to putt the ball to tee 4, retaining net 34 is provided around the rear of terminal tee 6 to prevent a strongly stroked golf ball from falling' off the edge of terminal tee 6. Once on terminal tee 6 the player will successively play each hole, then putt back across primary runway 12 onto center tee 4. The play is complete after the player successively plays each hole of the course. After play is completed, the entire course can be readily disassembled. the members folded and stored in a relatively small place.

The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details shown and described above. Nor is the use of the invention limited to the particular method of play described. Departures may be made from such details and such method of play without departing from the principles of the invention and without sacrificing its chief advantages.

What is claimed is:

1. A portable golf course comprising a tee, at least three separate fairways, means for detachably connecting one end of each of said fairways to said tee, a plurality of greens each having a hole adapted to receive a golf ball and means for detachably connecting one of said plurality of greens to the other end of each of said fairways.

2. A portable golf course as in claim 1 wherein said tee is divided into a plurality of sections and means are provided for pivotally connecting said sections.

.3. A portable golf course as in claim 1 wherein said tee has at least one hole adapted for receiving a golf ball and plug means for selectively filling said hole.

4. A portable golf course as in claim 1 further comprising means for controlling the elevation of said greens.

5. A portable golf course as in claim 1 further comprising another tee, a primary fairway and means for detachably connecting said tees to opposite ends of said primary fairway.

6. A portable golf course as in claim 5 wherein a removable retaining net is detachably affixed to the outer edge of one of said tees.

7. A portable golf course as in claim 5 wherein said primary fairway is divided into a plurality of sections, and means are provided for pivotally connecting said sections.

8. A portable golf course as in claim 1 wherein at least one of said fairways is divided into a plurality of sections and means are provided for pivotally connecting said sections.

9. A portable golf course as in claim 1 further comprising foldable support legs attached to said tee.

10. A portable golf course as in claim 1 further comprising foldable support legs attached to said fairways.

11. A portable golf course as in claim 1 further comprising means for detachably connecting at least one of said greens to said tee.

12. A portable golf course comprising a plurality of tees, a plurality of primary fairways, means for detachably connecting one end of each of said primary fairways to one of said tees, means for detachably connecting the other end of each of said primary fairways to another one'of said tees, a plurality of secondary fairways,

means for detachably connecting one end of each of said secondary fairways to one of said tees. a plurality of greens, means for detachably connecting one of said greens to the other end of each of said secondary fairways and means for detachably connecting at least one of said greens to one of said tees.

13. A portable golf course as in claim 12 wherein each of said tees has at least one hole adopted to receive a golf ball and plug means for selectively filling said hole.

14. A portable golf course as in claim 13 wherein said tees and said primary fairways are axially aligned to enable play between any two tees once one of said plug means is removed from one of said tees.

15. A portable golf course comprising a center tee. first and second terminal tees, first and second primary fairways, means for detachably connecting one end of each of said primary fairways to said center tee, means for detachably connecting the other end of said first primary fairway to said first terminal tee, means for detachably connecting the other end of said second primary fairway to said second terminal tee. a plurality of secondary fairways, means for detachably connecting at least one of said secondary fairways to each of said tees, a plurality of greens, means for detachably connecting one of said greens to each of said secondary fairways and means for detachably connecting at least one of said greens to at least one of said tees.

16. A portable golf course as in claim 15 wherein each of said tees has at least one hole adapted to receive a golf ball and plug means for selectively filling said hole.

17. A portable golf course as. in claim 16 wherein said tees and said primary fairways are axially aligned to enable play between any two tees once one of said plug means is removed from one of said tees. 

1. A portable golf course comprising a tee, at least three separate fairways, means for detachably connecting one end of each of said fairways to said tee, a plurality of greens each having a hole adapted to receive a golf ball and means for detachably connecting one of said plurality of greens to the other end of each of said fairways.
 2. A portable golf course as in claim 1 wherein said tee is divided into a plurality of sections and means are provided for pivotally connecting said sections.
 3. A portable golf course as in claim 1 wherein said tee has at least one hole adapted for receiving a golf ball and plug means for selectively filling said hole.
 4. A portable golf course as in claim 1 further comprising means for controlling the elevation of said greens.
 5. A portable golf course as in claim 1 further comprising another tee, a primary fairway and means for detachably connecting said tees to opposite ends of said primary fairway.
 6. A portable golf course as in claim 5 wherein a removable retaining net is detachably affixed to the outer edge of one of said tees.
 7. A portable golf course as in claim 5 wherein said primary fairway is divided into a plurality of sections, and means are provided for pivotally connecting said sections.
 8. A portable golf course as in claim 1 wherein at least one of said fairways is divided into a plurality of sections and means are provided for pivotally connecting said sections.
 9. A portable golf course as in claim 1 further comprising foldable support legs attached to said tee.
 10. A portable golf course as in claim 1 further comprising foldable support legs attached to said fairways.
 11. A portable golf course as in claim 1 further comprising means for detachably connecting at least one of said greens to said tee.
 12. A portable golf course comprising a plurality of tees, a plurality of primary fairways, means for detachably connecting one end of each of said primary fairways to one of said tees, means for detachably connecting the other end of each of said primary fairways to another one of said tees, a plurality of secondary fairways, means for detachably connecting one end of each of said secondary fairways to one of said tees, a plurality of greens, means for detachably connecting one of said greens to the other end of each of said secondary fairways and means for detachably connecting at least one of said greens to one of said tees.
 13. A portable golf course as in claim 12 wherein each of said tees has at least one hole adopted to receive a golf ball and plug means for selectively filling said hole.
 14. A portable golf course as in claim 13 wherein said tees and said primary fairways are axially aligned to enable play between any two tees once one of said plug means is removed from one of said tees.
 15. A portable golf course comprising a center tee, first and second terminal tees, first and second primary fairways, means for detachably connecting one end of each of said primary fairways to said center tee, means for detachably connecting the other end of said first primary fairway to said first terminal tee, means for detachably connecting the other end of said second primary fairway to said second terminal tee, a plurality of secondary fairways, means for detachably connecting at least one of said secondary fairways to each of said tees, a plurality of greens, means for detachably connecting one of said greens to each of said secondary fairways and means for detachably connecting at least one of said greens to at least one of said tees.
 16. A portable golf course as in claim 15 wherein each of said tees has at least one hole adapted to receive a golf ball and plug means for selectively filling said hole.
 17. A portable golf course as in claim 16 wherein said tees and said primary fairways are axially aligned to enable play between any two tees once one of said plug means is removed from one of said tees. 